


Fornax Rings and Space Beers

by soft_but_gremlin



Series: Whumptober 2020 [19]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:13:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27104011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soft_but_gremlin/pseuds/soft_but_gremlin
Summary: Obi-Wan's Master is dead. Quinlan knows his best friend needs to grieve.(Whumptober day 19: grief/mourning loved one)
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Quinlan Vos, Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi
Series: Whumptober 2020 [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946629
Comments: 8
Kudos: 66





	Fornax Rings and Space Beers

Quinlan already knew how his best friend was before he’d even stepped off the ship. He’d been friends with Obi-Wan for over a decade now; he practically knew the man better than himself.

He’d already made the arrangements. He was only at his quarters long enough to take a hot shower (with actual Force-blessed water, oh how he loathed Tatooine) and change into clean clothes. Then he dropped his also-freshly-clean padawan off with Luminara, and headed down to Dex’s.

Bant had Anakin. This had practically been her plan from the start. So it was an empty set of quarters that Quinlan stole Obi-Wan from, luring him out with an akkie bag from Dex’s in one hand and a six pack of some truly horrible alcohol in the other.

The trip was a familiar one. Together they bounced and dropped from rooftop to rooftop until they found the place they always went when life in the Temple was too much. Idly, Quinlan wondered how long this abandoned warehouse was going to stay abandoned. They’d been coming here since they were fifteen, and real estate on Coruscant didn’t just  _ stay abandoned _ , not when it was impossible to find new ground to build on, and had been for centuries.

But that didn’t matter right now. It was abandoned enough for tonight.

Quinlan plopped down next to Obi-Wan, close enough that they bumped shoulders every time they moved. He fished out one greasy slider and a box of protato wedges for himself, then plopped the rest of the bag in Obi-Wan’s lap.

Obi-Wan sighed and leaned his head on Quinlan’s shoulder as he slowly unwrapped his slider. Quinlan reached up to tug on Obi-Wan’s Padawan braid, remembered that Obi-Wan was now a Knight, and settled for an awkward pat on the shoulder instead.

Quinlan...wasn’t exactly sure what to start with. So he commented on the food instead.

“Man, I missed Dex’s food so much,” he said lightly. “Truly, where would we be without him?”

Obi-Wan snorted. “Healthier, probably,” he said.

“Pff, doubt it,” Quinlan said. “Considering you’ve lived off ration bars for the last decade, I’m pretty sure protato wedges and fornax rings are the only vegetables you eat.”

“Lies and slander,” Obi-Wan said, though Quinlan could hear the smile in his voice. “There’s onions and topatos on the sliders.”

Quinlan huffed a laugh and shook his head. “I can’t believe there’s people in this galaxy who think you’re a responsible adult.”

“I am a responsible adult,” Obi-Wan said. “I…” he thought a moment, trying to think of something adulty. “...file my taxes every single year!”

“Obi-Wan, you don’t make enough money to file taxes.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I’m a Sentinel, Obi-Wan, I know everything.”

Obi-Wan burst into laughter, and Quinlan couldn’t help but join in.

Once their giggles had died down a bit, Quinlan handed Obi-Wan one of the bottles from the six pack and grabbed another for himself. They popped the caps off and clinked their bottles together.

Quinlan focused on his slider. There was quiet for a few moments as they dug in, but then the silence began to stretch. At first, it seemed like the comfortable silence that he and Obi-Wan often fell into after long periods apart, but Quinlan could sense Obi-Wan’s mood souring, and then he noticed Obi-Wan was ignoring his food, and just staring out at the traffic beyond the rooftop. 

It was familiar, Obi-Wan’s grief. He’d been mired in it when they’d met, reeling from the loss and tragedy of one war only to be plunged directly into another. It was a quiet sort of grief, blank stares and hidden sobs and gone-in-a-flash anger. So different from the way Quinlan grieved, blunt and loud and grudging. Much harder to see, if you weren’t looking for it.

Quinlan bumped his shoulder. “Your fornax rings are gonna get cold if you don’t eat them.”

Obi-Wan sighed and leaned his head on Quinlan’s shoulder.

Quinlan set his slider down and wrapped his arms around Obi-Wan, resting his chin on Obi-Wan’s head. It was alright if they didn’t have the words. They’d done this before.

Obi-Wan didn’t pull closer, but he didn’t pull away either. For the moment, he steadfastly ignored Quinlan, focusing instead on his fornax rings. That was fine with Quinlan. He could wait. And the rings  _ would  _ get cold if Obi-Wan didn’t eat them.

Traffic hummed through the air above and below them. Electroboards flashed advertisements for anything one could ever think of, and then a few more things for good measure. The twisted grate of the old droid vent that they used to explore when they were smaller creaked in the wind. Everything was exactly the same as it had been every time they’d come here in the last ten years.

Strange, how that was, when everything else had completely changed.

“I’m not...ready,” Obi-Wan finally mumbled, several minutes after the box of rings had been emptied and set aside to be thrown away later. One hand was wrapped around Quinlan’s arm, a sign his comfort was accepted.

He could be referring to any number of things. Bant had told Quinlan that there’d been discussion of Obi-Wan moving into new quarters this morning, though Quinlan couldn’t imagine why, since Obi-Wan was already set up in a Master-&-Padawan dorm. He could be talking about that, or he could be talking about the fact that he’d taken a Padawan literally less than an hour after his Knighting. Hell, he could be talking about not being ready to go back to the Temple just yet.

Or he could be talking about accepting Master Jinn’s death.

It didn’t really matter what he was talking about. Quinlan squeezed his arms tightly around his friend. “You don’t have to be,” he said. “We’ve got you until you are.”

Quinlan could tell when Obi-Wan broke, soft trembles indicating silent tears. Slowly, gently, Quinlan pulled his friend in closer, letting him grieve. No one could see him here, there was no one to judge Obi-Wan except Obi-Wan himself.

Tonight, Obi-Wan could shatter in grief about his dead Master. Quinlan would be his rock until he was ready.


End file.
